Health misinformation: How to identify reliable sources online

With all the digital information available at our fingertips, it’s easy to find inaccurate advice about your health. Health misinformation describes false or misleading medical information often found on websites or social media. It also includes health disinformation, a form of health misinformation that is created to deliberately mislead someone with misstated facts.

Medical misinformation used to be a handful of uniformed theories on the fringe, but it’s grown into what some health officials are calling an “infodemic.” The trend in health misinformation creates confusion, mistrust and even death.

“Years ago, health misinformation came from outliers in far-out conspiracy theories. It used to be an exception,” said Emily Webber, MD, chief medical information officer at Indiana University Health and pediatrician at Riley Children’s Health. “Now it feels like a constant, uphill battle for medical professionals to correct this information.”

Why health information is vulnerable to misinformation

Health misinformation has always been around, but the trend exploded during the COVID-19 pandemic. Medical information is particularly susceptible to misinformation because it is complicated, it changes over time and it has the potential to affect everyone. During the pandemic, scientists were regularly learning new things about COVID, and the public sometimes struggled to keep up.

“People often think health information is static and unchanging, but it can evolve. In matters of public health, for example, we use the best information we have at the time,” Dr. Webber said. “When COVID started to take off, that data was changing rapidly. Misinformation rose quickly along with it. Now we find ourselves with less agreement between the public and the health care community —and therefore, less trust—around things that used to be accepted facts.”

Health misinformation can also grow among communities with distrust of the medicine. This can be true for minorities. There is well-documented history of racially segregated healthcare and experimental surgeries that launched decades of mistrust between Black Americans and the medical industry. A historic example of this was the U.S. Public Health Service (USPHS) Untreated Syphilis Study at Tuskegee, Alabama, in which treatment was withheld from Black participants. Combined with less access to healthcare, this historical mistrust initially led to lower COVID vaccination rates among Black Americans. During the COVID-19 pandemic, discrimination of Asian Americans increased, which also led to negative health consequences.

Why health misinformation is dangerous

As science works to find answers in rapidly changing situations, there are plenty of people willing to fill those gaps with misinformation. People who are already skeptical of science or internet trolls and bots designed to spread misinformation often fill this space. This is especially true in situations where people feel desperate for answers, and medical misinformation can have dangerous consequences.

For example, a poorly designed study in the 1990s that was since refuted falsely claimed that the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine caused autism. Despite multiple studies and articles explaining the flawed nature of this study, rates of immunization dropped over the next 20 years. Similarly, at the peak of the AIDS epidemic in the late 1990s, the South African government’s refusal to accept the science of how HIV causes AIDS caused them to decline offering retroviral drugs, resulting in an estimated 330,000 deaths. The current measles outbreak in Texas is largely among unvaccinated children, including the first measles death in more than a decade.

“We know from decades of data that people are mainly motivated to get vaccinated for their personal interests, versus for the benefit for communities. But now, people also don’t believe the science behind one of our best-studied vaccines,” Dr. Webber said. “The Texas measles outbreaks are happening in these communities with historically low vaccination rates, and some parents of the children who are infected and suffering say they still wouldn’t had let their children receive the safe, effective, free vaccination. That’s the great danger of health misinformation: Consuming bad information drives people to less safe decisions that affect them personally, and in cases of public health misinformation, it also dramatically and rapidly affects their community.”

Sometimes misinformation comes from someone with a financial motivation. Splashy, loud and outrageous claims and “quick fixes” in a one-minute TikTok video, for instance, should be scrutinized for accuracy, especially if they come with a price tag. Not only should you question the message but also scrutinize the messenger.

“The way information can be shared means that we can consume this information quickly and without validation. Misinformation becomes like junk food—too easy to consume and unhealthy. For example, social media algorithms are designed to show you the stories that make you angry and scared, which are the ones that stick with you, even if they aren’t true,” Dr. Webber said. “We respond differently to information when we are angry and scared, and sometimes they hear what they want to hear. We’d all love to have an easy way to solve problems with a $9.99 supplement, but that’s not how health and science works.”

How to sort fact from fiction

Given the amount of false information available online, it can be daunting to find the best sources for online medical advice. When in doubt, Dr. Webber encourages people to check claims against reliable sources of health information, such as:

• Professional medical organizations, like the American Academy of Pediatrics or American Medical Association. These organizations are led by medical professionals volunteering their time to do research and share the latest information.
• Peer-reviewed, large-scale scientific studies available through your local university’s library or on sites like PubMed, Google Scholar or Science.gov.
• Public health organizations, like the Indiana State Department of Health, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) or National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Your healthcare provider is also an excellent resource for accurate medical information. Doctors, nurses and other medical providers spend years in training to deliver the latest and best evidence-based health information so you can make informed healthcare decisions.

“At IU Health, people trust us on the worst days of their lives. The people who were here taking care of you in the early days of trying to understand COVID are all still here for you. We’re not giving up on you,” Dr. Webber said.

It will take a collaborative effort between science, medical professionals and the public to break through the noise of online health misinformation. It’s important to be a conduit of accurate and reliable information within your circle. Some of the most dangerous disinformation is spread on social media. If you prepare yourself with accurate health information, you can help others close to you navigate complicated medical information.

“Don’t think someone is a lost cause because they believe misinformation. Bring good, trustworthy information, find common ground and don’t be afraid to present things that are upsetting and intense when those things are true,” Dr. Webber said. “Being connected personally and building trust with the person you’re trying to educate matters. It’s usually not the world-renowned expert who affects change within the community; it’s the health workers already trusted by their communities who can change minds.”

As you encounter health information online, remember:

• If it’s a sensational quick-fix or asking for money, it’s smart to be skeptical.
• Medical information affects everyone and it can spread quickly. It can also be complicated and confusing.
• Health misinformation can be dangerous for people and their communities.
• Fact-check suspicious health claims using professional medical associations, peer-reviewed scientific studies and public health organizations.
• Equip yourself with accurate information so you can help stop the spread of misinformation.